Day 9, Monday, May 16th

May 16, 2011 (continued from morning)

Bob’s pretty much grinning from ear to ear!  We just watched the finish of the race – the 4 lap finish was great.  We decided when we got to the race course area we would walk around to find the team busses.  We had parked the RV within walking distance, about a mile, and Bucky thought that was better for sniffing than riding in the back-back via bike mode anyway.  It didn’t take us long to find the BMC bus and support vehicles.  One of the BMC staff (Paula) directed us to just knock on the door of the bus, telling us Trudy was just relaxing inside.  Trudy came out and we did some quick catching up before she had to get ready for the finish.  Trudy went to Iowa State and ran with my sister, Annette – so that’s the connection.  Yesterday, Sheila had called Trudy and she told us to look for her at the team bus.  We took some pictures and said we’d catch her later.  We scoped out a good spot on the corner and got ready to cheer.  While we were waiting I saw Eric Heiden by one of BMC cars.  He is the team doctor for BMC. We walked over to say hello.  I introduced Bob and yep – you guessed it – took a picture.   After the race Bob spotted Och (Jim Ochowicz – Sheila’s hubby and one of BMC’s owners) so he made a b-line over to say hello.  Och was in the thick of team riders but he assured us we could chat.  We told him we were thinking of driving to his house to spend the night with Sheila so he told us the best way to get there.  While chatting – mostly me telling him about our weekend with Mary and Sheila, George Hincapie, many time Tour de France rider (google him) BMC rider came walking by us so Och says “George meet my friends, Bob & Paula”  at the same time Trudy came running over to give Bob a BMC hat.  Geez, I’m trying to not drop Brucky and right-o – take a picture!  I think I better find a store by Sheila’s to buy a bunch of batteries for the next photo op!    

We left the race area as all the team riders were hopping on their bikes to ride back to the hotels.  We got on the road, Bob as driver, me as co-pilot navigator.  Having the “googles” so I can choose the route via address is really something.  And I am improving on a daily basis on my finger control so we don’t jump from directions to outer-space!  I figure at the learning rate I’m at I should be pretty efficient at this by the time we hit St. Paul.   We arrived at Sheila & Och’s in about 1½ hours.  We didn’t have any traffic jams but the traffic going the opposite direction looked like they’d be sitting for quite some time after the semi truck had to be towed back onto the highway.  We were lucky!  Sheila had dinner waiting when we arrived which was so nice not to think about making something.  We watched the tour coverage and headed out to the RV for bed.  Of course Sheila said we should stay in the house but we actually missed being in our own bed, so we convinced her it was quite all right.  Sheila and Och live on a very well kept, quiet street and we parked in the street, not the driveway, so Bob turned on the flashing corner light he had installed just in case someone came down the block not paying attention, driving too close to us.  We set the alarm for 6:00 so we could get a run down on the day’s activities before Sheila headed out to her teaching job.